The present invention pertains to a data acquisition arrangement for a telecommunications switching system and more particularly to an arrangement for collecting and transmitting customer data for identification, validation and billing of special features such as calling card services.
With the popularization of placing telephone calls via credit cards, existing telecommunication switching systems require modifications to provide this function to customers. Customer identification is required for billing purposes. Further, a validity code is required to insure that the credit card is being properly used.
This data must be collected in an on-line fashion. That is, before the switching system may complete the call, the customer must transmit the required information to the switching system via his station equipment. The customer is supplied with a request signal indicating that the switching system requires this information. The customer then responds with a series of numbers via the DTMF keypad with the required identification, billing and validity data. The switching system must then collect this information; transmitted to its central processing unit; and, analyzes the information for proper handling of the telephone call. If a valid call has been initiated by the customer, the system will respond by connecting his call.
Accordingly, systems which were previously designed and did not originally incorporate this feature, must be supplemented to provide this capability. The present invention is a modular addition for such a telecommunications system which provides the data acquisition and transmission for special features such as calling card service.